In the early years of the 21st Century gvnet.com/childprostitution/Denmark.htm

Kingdom of Denmark

This
thoroughly modern market economy features high-tech agriculture, up-to-date
small-scale and corporate industry, extensive government welfare measures,
an equitable distribution of income, comfortable living standards, a stable
currency, a stable political system, and high dependence on foreign trade.
Unemployment is low and capacity constraints limit growth potential.
Denmark is a net exporter of food and energy and enjoys a comfortable
balance of payments surplus.

A major long-term issue
will be the sharp decline in the ratio of workers to retirees.[The World Factbook,
U.S.C.I.A. 2009]

CAUTION: The following links
and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the
situation in Denmark.Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated, misleading or even
false.No attempt has been made to
validate their authenticity or to verify their content.

A recent round table
discussion between the police, social workers in contact with the
prostitution milieu, and the social counselors for parents and children in
crisis, concluded that there is no child prostitution involving children
below the age of consent (15 years) in Denmark. The flow of teenagers
into street prostitution is rather limited, especially for teenagers under
18. The owners of bars and massage parlors are generally very careful not to
let in persons younger than 21 years, as this is illegal and might give the
police an opportunity to intervene. Thus, most prostitutes start work after
they reach 20 in massage parlors or bars. A relatively
small group start at a younger age and do so on the streets.

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ARCHIVES ***

ECPAT Global Monitoring Report on the status
of action against commercial exploitation of children - DENMARK[PDF]

Largely, the
prostitution of young people does not occur within ‘conventional’ settings
more widely used to enable such crimes. Instead, studies appear to indicate
that young persons come into contact with clients either through friends and
acquaintances, through the Internet or through casual encounters.

Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

U.S. Dept of State
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, March 8, 2006

TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS
- The country was both a destination and a transit point for women and
children who were trafficked from the former Soviet Union, Eastern
Europe, Thailand,
and Africa for the purposes of sexual
exploitation and occasionally to work as thieves. Traffickers lured victims
with the prospect of higher wages and a better life, then forced them into
prostitution, often withholding their passports.

Concluding Observations of the Committee on
the Rights of the Child (CRC)

[42] The Committee
is aware of the efforts of the State party to prevent and combat sexual abuse
and exploitation, including the recent establishment of an information
collection system on sexual abuse. The Committee is concerned about the lack
of awareness about child abuse and exploitation and the inadequate efforts to
address child pornography. The Committee also notes the need for training for
professionals working with and for child victims of abuse, including police
officers, lawyers and social workers.

Concluding Observations of the Committee on
Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights

International Covenant on Economic, Social,
and Cultural Rights, 14/12/2004

[9] The Committee
welcomes the adoption in March 2003 of the law on combating child
pornography, sexual exploitation of children and sale of children, and the establishment
in August 2003 of an action plan on combating sexual abuse of children.

[19] The Committee
notes with concern that, in spite of the measures taken by the State party, Denmark
continues to face problems of child pornography, sexual exploitation of
children, and trafficking in women and children.

The Protection Project - Denmark[DOC]

The PaulH.NitzeSchool
of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), The JohnsHopkinsUniversity

FORMS OF TRAFFICKING
- A
recent study undertaken by Save the Children Denmark uncovered two primary
purposes for which children are trafficked to Denmark: for commercial sexual
exploitation and for criminal exploitation, such as pickpocketing and
shoplifting. At least 20 cases of this second form were detected from spring
to December 2003.In that year, police
observed that an increasing number of boys, primarily from Romania, were
being trafficked for criminal exploitation. Many appeared to belong to the
Roma minority.A combination of
trafficking for both purposes can also occur.

[B]
COUNTRY UPDATES – DENMARK – ECPAT Denmark
has launched a code of conduct with two Danish travel companies and has
carried out training for tourist guides. It has also been discussing child
sex tourism with other Scandinavian ECPAT groups. Work against child
pornography on the Internet has continued through a hotline funded by the
government. ECPAT Denmark has also been active in the field of child
participation. It conducted a workshop on CSEC, where youngsters wrote a
letter to the world at a Danish Youth Council seminar.The letter was taken by 2 of the Danish
youth participants to the UN General Assembly Special Session PrepCom in New
York in June 2001.

Report by Special
Rapporteur[DOC]

UN Economic and Social Council Commission
on Human Rights, Fifty-ninth session, 6 January 2003

[39] In June 2002,
Parliament adopted a bill on new legislation concerning trafficking in human
beings, including children for sexual purposes, in accordance with the EU
Framework Decision on combating trafficking in human beings. The
clients of prostitutes under the age of 18 are criminalized under the
Criminal Code with a maximum term of two years’
imprisonment. Sexual relations with any child (a) under 15; or (b)
under 12, or if coercion or intimidation has been used, is punishable with
imprisonment for a maximum of 6 years or 10 years, respectively.Legislation concerning child pornography
has been amended several times and the bill planned to be put before
Parliament in 2003 is expected to suggest raising the maximum penalty for
distribution and possession of child pornography and broadening the
definition to include material portraying “representations” of child
pornography.

An Important Step
in Denmark
Concerning Child Trafficking

Child Centre for Children at Risk in the Baltic Sea Region, 01 December 2005

In September 2005
The Danish Government made an appendix to the governmental plan of action to
combat trafficking in women. The appendix includes child trafficking,
primarily children trafficked in preparation for sexual exploitation.

Trafficking in children in Denmark

Red Barnet, Save the Children Denmark,
Annual Report, 2003

www.redbarnet.dk/Default.aspx?ID=2209

[Last accessed 1 February 2011]

Children are sold
to Denmark
from impoverished countries to participate in crime, prostitution or both.
This was documented in a study published by Save the Children Denmark in
December 2003 (below).

[page 16]SEXUAL
EXPLOITATION
- No actual statistics of registered trafficking victims exist in Denmark, or
of trafficking victims of sexual exploitation. There is disagreement as to
the extent to which foreign children suffer commercial sexual exploitation.
Representatives from the Danish National Police force do not feel that the
problem is particularly widespread, as they have no specific knowledge of
trafficking in minors as a problem in Denmark. In a recent nationwide
survey of massage clinics and brothels, police did not reportedly encounter
children in these environments.

A recent round
table discussion between the police, social workers in contact with the
prostitution milieu, and the social counselors for parents and children in
crisis, concluded that there is no child prostitution involving children
below the age of consent (15 years) in Denmark. The flow of teenagers
into street prostitution is rather limited, especially for teenagers under
18. The owners of bars and massage parlors are generally very careful not to
let in persons younger than 21 years, as this is illegal and might give the
police an opportunity to intervene. Thus, most prostitutes start work after
they reach 20 in massage parlors or bars. A relatively small group start at a
younger age and do so on the streets.

UNICEF UK said
that 350 million children aged five to 17 worked, and that 180 million of
them were "involved in the worst forms of child labour -- hazardous
work, slavery, forced labor, in armed forces,
commercial sexual exploitation and illicit activities".

UNICEF UK lauded
the pledge of developed countries, made more than 30 years ago, of allocating
0.7 percent of gross domestic product to development aid but regretted that
only five countries today fulfill that promise -- Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Sweden.